I don’t usually do this, but I was checking almost obsessively for when this episode was going to be released. I would be studying in an entirely different room and then suddenly peep into my room to see if the subs were up. This process would continue for quite a while. <_< I’m not usually this impatient, but for Madoka…I need it ASAP.

Homura saunters in and makes a mockery out of Kyoko with her teleportation skills. Seeing no more reason to fight (especially after Homura knocks Sayaka out with one blow), she flees. She’s not exactly a knight in shining armour though…Madoka gets quite the verbal lashing from her before she leaves her in the alley.

Hi, I’m Kyubei! I have red eyes, white fur, like to eat Grief Seeds, and spend my spare time bossing around little girls! Also, you should tell Madoka to make a contract with me. I’m sure she could help you beat Kyoko. Silly Sayaka, trying to refuse my offer. Okay, now get back to work getting me more Grief Seeds before I go into withdrawal again.

What’s inside Kyubei? INFINITE DARKNESS. You saw it here first.

Story time: Cool used to go to the arcade and DDR so often, all the regulars knew her. I spent a lot of time and money on that game, learning from the masters of the arcade. Arcade Queen nostalgia aside, it really made my day to see Kyoko DDRing to the theme song as she talked with Homura. What did they talk about? Who cares, ROCKY AND DDR! …But seriously, Homura strikes a deal. No touchy Sayaka + beat up incoming monster = you get the city.

Madoka is still tailing Sayaka on her (pretty fail) witch hunts. She tries to get her to stop, but Sayaka just gets pissed off and yells at her. Listen, it’s like yuri ShizuoxIzaya, how can they NOT fight each other when they meet up? GET REAL, MADOKA!

Madoka’s mom has a night chat with her about Sayaka. She’s really a mixed bag of good and bad parenting. I admire some of her advice, and the pragmatic statements about being unable to just fix everyone’s problems by telling them what to do as if you know best….But I don’t think you should tell your kid “OH YEAH, MAKE LOTS OF MISTAKES. ESPECIALLY DUMB ONES YOUR FRIENDS ARE ABOUT TO MAKE. THAT’LL SET THEM STRAIGHT” while swishing around alcohol in your shot glass. Madoka is going to be a drunkard when she grows up because of you. I bet she slipped some alcohol into her orange juice for kicks.

This…IS orange juice, right mom? …Right?

Sayaka seems to be doing okay despite Madoka’s incessant worrying. She goes to visit Kamijo at the hospital, and then does some stalking in order to get to his house when she finds out he’s been discharged. As she stands in front of his door and creepily smiles all alone, she realizes she’s…um…not alone. Kyoko is there, munching on a snack and openly taunting her as per usual. Sayaka takes the bait hook, line and sinker.

Oh no! Her fangs are multiplying!

They end up on a bridge over a highway so as not to attract attention. Kyoko gets a transformation sequence, and Sayaka’s is interrupted by Madoka. Homura also joins in to stop Kyoko. She tries to weasel her way out of their agreement until Madoka shrieks, grabs Sayaka’s soul gem, and THROWS IT ONTO THE ROAD. Oh my god, that’s not what your mom meant, SHE DEFINITELY SLIPPED SOME ALCOHOL IN THERE. Don’t drink and throw your friend’s soul into incoming traffic, that’s today’s lesson.

In a weird strangle/pulse-checking combo, Kyoko realizes that Sayaka is dead. Madoka killed her friend. The two of them spazz at Kyubei, who calmly explains that magical girls are just “hardware” while everything they used to be is condensed into the soul gem. Meanwhile, Homura teleports at light speed towards the cast away soul gem. Just by looking at it and analyzing Sayaka’s condition, she knows the truth. She returns the soul gem to Sayaka and revives her. The episode ends with a very confused Sayaka looking around with wide eyes.

Bonus Screenshots:

How many of us wanted to do this since episode 1?

Watching porn? Well, Kyubei is watching YOU.

That boy you visited every day? He never existed. You were talking to yourself the whole time…

Bubbles? Sparkles? Flowers? Try an inferno.

End Thoughts: This was about the same level of crazy as episode 3. No one died and stayed dead, but Kyubei’s revelation is certainly a game-changer for Sayaka, Homura, Kyoko and even Madoka. Last episode I was convinced that Kyubei was ripping out their souls and…hey….HE IS. Once again, we tread yet another step further from the typical mahou shoujo stereotype. Once they enter the contract, they are no more than zombies on a tight leash. Fighting witches everyday, pretending to to be content with their normal life, and ultimately being a slave to Kyubei. I doubt there is any way to get their body back either.

Now that they’re fully aware of how much they’ve lost for this wish and how much they will continue to lose…what can they do? I am thoroughly interested in how everyone will react to this. Kyoko, who is the closest thing to a villain aside from Kyubei, might end up siding with everyone. Will they try to find a way out, live in denial, or doggedly press forward and accept the consequences? Madoka’s choice is going to be especially important. I mean, how is she EVER going to be a magical girl if she knows this horrible truth now? Madoka making a contract in the last episode is becoming more and more of a likely option.

As it’s becoming more and more clear that Kyubei is evil, we still know next to nothing about Homura. She’s an irregular and has a special ability which I can only presume to be her teleportation. There’s not much else to work with. All I know is that if even Kyubei doesn’t have a handle on her, she’s the key to something important. I don’t know what that Walpurginacht thing is, but being able to detect that it’s coming must mean…something. My guess? It’s the monster Homura was fighting in Madoka’s dream.

What I really liked about this episode was how the shocking moments actually hit hard. Madoka’s confrontation with Sayaka was dramatic and tense enough for me to really feel the strain between the two. Likewise, the intense reaction to the soul gem fiasco was so emotional that you not only intellectualized the huge implications, you FELT it. At least, I did. Looks like I’ll be spending next Thursday constantly refreshing my downloading site again for Madoka. By then I’ll have finished all of my exams too. UNTIL THEN!

Bonus question for you guys: Would you fight with Kyoko since she sacrifices humans to get her powers if you were a mahou shoujo? Or just leave her alone?

Kyubei is 100% evil now. Before it seemed that Kyoko was becoming a bit of an obstacle for the other girls, but it’s just another case of the little furball manipulating everyone around him. Pretty much everyone has been following his plans except Homura. She already knew that Kyubei was evil for some reason so she’s like the shining hope to save everyone.

the ED theme still gives be chills and i keep pressing that replay button on youtube. kalafina you make this anime even more amazing than it already is. Full version now?…eh? one more week…

anyway cant wait till the next episode. I seriously don’t know what to expect anymore lol this anime is unpredictable lol

@bonus question I would kill her, when she confronted sayaka and said those things about that guy sayaka used her wish on. I was pissed lol I wouldnt be a mahou shoujo tho….not even a masou shoujo and a zombie 😛 well maybe a zombie…XD

Mmmm yessss, this show is glorious <3 Yuki Kajiura's music just makes it even better!

Ohh, looks like you have a strong sense of justice too XD Just like Sayaka, hehe. I wouldn't want to be a mahou shoujo if my body becomes an empty shell though...A masou shoujo would be worth it for the frilly costume XD

While I think that Kyuubei is an evil bastard, it’s also likely that he just lacks any kind of empathy because he just can’t understand human emotions, as it’s magnitudes distant from whatever moral system he follows (if any). You could liken him to a machine, in a way, kind of like the agents in the Matrix, except much more pushier about his ‘job’.

It’s true that our view of kyubei is of something evil, but for him it’s just his job. It seems like a perfectly logical thing to do for him, so part of his evil nature comes from a lack of understanding. That being said, since he KNOWS humans gets all uppity about this soul-in-a-jewel concept, you think he’d stop… Makes me wonder if there’s some higher-up he’s blindly obeying orders from…Like you said, a machine is a good way to describe Kyubei. XD

homura has gotten a bit more appreciation from me now since she saved sayaka. the theory about homura being from the future makes more sense now since she knows kyoko, who didnt know her yet, and about walpurgis night. she also seemed to know what happens when you lose your soul gem.

and like I said earlier, madoka technically killed sayaka.
imo kyubey’s best quote so far: “madoka, you dont throw away your friend”

also, I did a bit of research and it turns out walpurgis night is like a witch festival or gathering….

I’ve always quite liked Homura-chan even if she does her good deeds in a bit of a stoic manner. Homura knows far too much to be in the same boat as the other girls, that’s for sure. I’m starting to think she could be from the future too…it’s becoming less far-fetched to me now.

Ohhhh boy. Madoka is going to be even more high-strung than usual now that she killed her best friend XD Kyubei’s half-hearted “don’t throw away your friend” was pretty win.

@amado
lol. Thanks to ya I did some search too… There were country where people got fantasied as witches and walked around the town like that… also, bonfires everywhere.

Another cool thing is that Faust actually has two scenes with the name Walpurgisnatch on it. And all the others Literature references with Walpurgis night are about people having business with the Devil.

So we just need to throw Kyuubey in one of those bonfire and its all over? 8)

Being a mahou shoujo just became a much less desirable career…You get paid in grief seeds, have no vacation, and you lose your body. =/

I’m suspecting that Homura is predicting the arrival of that thing in Madoka’s dream too. After all, how else would she know it’s coming? I think a lot might end up hinging on defeating that thing, so it wouldn’t be that odd for them all to fight it together…Or at least, one after the other as each one fails/dies

But we didn’t see her soul gem destroyed. I was thinking maybe it takes a while for Kyuubey to restore their bodies (since he mentioned that no matter how hurt they get, he can restore them as long as their soul gem is fine)

Too many zombies this season…
I know exactly what you’re feellin’, tottaly the same here… I hit F5 a lot yesterday… I never done this before @[email protected] I’m addicted to madoka…

DDR for the way (even tought I prefer KOF over it ;p)!! lol, Madoka’s mom is not a good influence. And Madoka WANT to get drunk with her… she sure admires her mother xD. I only get drunk at the New Years party… and just recently. I’m too young still :3

Oh hohoohoho, It was obvious that THAT GEM was their SOULs… ‘cuz it’s their SOUL GEMS after all. And if you look again at the scene when Sayaka got contracted you will see her body falling in the ground lifeless. I loled when Kyoko raged over Kyuubey about this. She was Always so “I don’t give a fuck cuz my spear is awesome” and then she was scared for life 8D. Well done for her.

But, basically, it is as Kyuubey says. Based in the Spiritism, our body are just recipients. What he did was just shape souls into gems and attribute magic powers to it. Still, it’s scary.

Also, we confirmed that Madoka is an idiot. BIG IDIOT \o/ I laughed hard when Homura started calling her that at the begin *–* And then she goes and threw Sayaka’s soul off… If it wasn’t for the truck and Homura, there would be billions of fanart about Sayaka at the Pixiv right now. Damn you madoka D8.

Madoka’s mom gives odd advice…and now Madoka wants to follow in her footsteps *facepalm* Drinking is okay, just don’t get crazy drunk. XD I’m old enough to drink, but I don’t do it.

Yeah, it was a good build up to this moment by showing the ritual of making Sayaka a magical girl. Just enough hints to make you suspect it and then BAM! The hard truth. Seeing someone as hardcore as Kyoko being rattled made it all the more shocking. I wouldn’t want my soul stuck in some gem like a genie either, un…

oh, the bonus question ‘-‘
I think I would do nothing about Kyoko and actually would do the same as her. It depends. To start with, I wouldn’t take the contract like never. But if I were stronger than her, I would totally kick her ass. Just that I don’t like to take battles that I cannot win. =p

So you’d wait for familiars to turn into witches as they kill people. I see, I see…Never expected anyone to side with her, actually XD Probably a good move if you don’t think you can beat her though *nods* I shall answer the question in the beginning of my next post. : D

walpurgis night? reminds me of UraBoku, an anime that probably most people don’t know. hehe

so, basically, when you do the contract, your soul is transferred inside the soul gem. OH WAIT, if we have mami’s soul gem, that means she can be revived? then mami isn’t really dead right now, just…somewhere? all we need now is a teddy bear and mami’s soul gem

seems like kyubey’s evil side is finally showing, like how he said he doesn’t get why they’re so bothered with their bodies. he’s just jealous because he’s not human, so he can’t wear fancy clothes like the others. and also, when he tried to use sayaka to get to madoka…damn kyubey
…maybe he’s trying to get to madoka all this time? to use her for something? hmmm my brain hurts

also, madoka is annoying. she’s like chizuru from Hakuoki, doing no shit at all. but thanks to her, kyubey’s dark side is finally shown 😀
i have this feeling that madoka won’t be a magical girl

I watched 5 episodes of uraboku then dropped it for being too ‘meh.’ XD

Kyubei the devourer of souls! I wonder why he has to do this around-the-bout way of putting their gems in souls and then waiting for them to fall before he can eat it. =/ I guess they MIGHT make up for it by killing witches. All I know is he has some other goal aside from eating souls..something involving Madoka and her huge, hidden pool of potential.

Even tought she’s not doing many things, every suddendly action that she takes (like when she threw the bucket through the window… and now that she threw her friend at the truck lol) works out to help others or to develope the plot futher. I don’t think Madoka is annoying at all, just that she’s normal, has a big heart, care for others and all those bullshit. and that doesn’t annoy me cuz I’m pretty sure that I would do exactly what shes doing (if not worse) if it were me. Or maybe I would make the contract and RULE DA WORLD D:

I think she will become a magical girl… just dunno when… but there will be blood/chaos/catastrophy when this happen. 8D And Just realised that Madoka loves to throw things. 😮

When Sayaka collapsed and we learned the truth I was horrified. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIM!? I felt like wringing that bastards neck! Ripping out their souls and stuffing them in that tiny thing? What if it gets lost, broken, stolen because it looks kinda like jewelry etc. a lot of things could happen to it and he has the AUDACITY to say he doesn’t ‘understand’ what he has done? I know he probably doesn’t have the same set of morals as humans but this is just… Even Kyoko is horrified and she has some loose morals. I still can’t believe it. I was just staring at my computer screaming obscenities at the little bundle of evil. I’m glad Homura saved Sayaka’s soul and don’t understand why everybody dislikes her. From the start I could tell she was trying to help. And I think Kyubey might be devouring the souls of fallen magical girls. It might be the whole reason why he contracts them in the first place. And maybe he wants to get more power from eating Madoka’s soul. Also I would leave Kyoko alone until I’m stronger than her. Then I can officially kick her ass for sacrificing people for some selfish wish.

“Listen, it’s like yuri ShizuoxIzaya, how can they NOT fight each other when they meet up? GET REAL, MADOKA!”

IiiiiiizaaaaaaaYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Walpurgisnacht is a night where witches come out or something, and is celebrated in Europe (according to Wikipedia). Some commenters on another blog said it’s also when the Devil meets Faust or something (In Ep2 they had lines from Faust in the background).

If Kyoko doesn’t interfere then I wouldn’t bother with her, but if she does then it would depend on probability of winning. If I’m powered by a Twin GN Drive system instead of Grief Seeds then hell yeah.

[…] “What I really liked about this episode was how the shocking moments actually hit hard. Madoka’s confrontation with Sayaka was dramatic and tense enough for me to really feel the strain between the two. Likewise, the intense reaction to the soul gem fiasco was so emotional that you not only intellectualized the huge implications, you FELT it. At least, I did.” – Metanorn […]